NFL Playoff Squares

Wild Card weekend, the Divisional round, and the Conference Championships — an online squares pool for every playoff game

Thirteen games in four weekends, and every one of them is win-or-go-home. Don't wait for the Super Bowl to run your pool: set up an NFL playoff squares board for the game your group is watching, share the link, and everyone picks their squares from their phone before kickoff.

The 2026–27 NFL playoffs

Fourteen teams, four rounds, and a three-day Wild Card weekend to open it all. Run a board for one game, one weekend, or the whole bracket.

NFL Playoffs

  • Sat–Mon · Jan 16–18

    Super Wild Card Weekend

    Six games: two Saturday, three Sunday, one Monday night

  • Sat & Sun · Jan 23–24

    Divisional Round

    Four games, two each day · the top seeds join the bracket

  • Sun · Jan 31

    Conference Championships

    NFC at 3:00 PM ET, AFC at 6:30 PM ET · a natural doubleheader board

  • Sun, Feb 14 · 6:30 PM ET

    Super Bowl LXI

    SoFi Stadium, Inglewood · ABC / ESPN · Super Bowl Squares

How NFL playoff squares work

The rules are the same as Super Bowl Squares. Players claim squares, then numbers are randomly assigned to the rows and columns. At the end of each quarter, the last digit of each team's score determines the winning square.

Example: end of the first quarter

Chiefs 10 — Ravens 3

The Chiefs' last digit is 0 and the Ravens' is 3. The square where column 0 meets row 3 wins.

Playoff games can't end in a tie, so overtime happens. Say in your rules whether the final-score payout includes overtime. Most pools do, and the site's automatic winner tracking follows the final whistle either way.

Read the full squares rules
Simplified example showing part of a 100-square board.

Set up your NFL playoff pool

  1. Create your board

    Pick the game and a 25, 50, or 100-square grid. Theme it in the matchup's team colors and add your rules, price per square, and payouts.

  2. Invite your players

    Share the board link by text, email, or a QR code at the bar. Players choose their squares online, and you can track who has paid.

  3. Draw numbers before kickoff

    Once picks are complete, randomly assign the numbers. Bind the board to the game and the winning squares are marked from the live score at the end of each quarter.

One game, one weekend, or the whole bracket?

The playoffs run four straight weekends, so pick the shape that fits your group. All three work well.

One grid for one game

Your team's Wild Card game, the Monday nighter, or the AFC Championship. One board, one matchup, four quarters of winners.

Best for a single watch party, or when only one game matters to your group.

One grid, several sets of numbers

For a day with back-to-back games, like Championship Sunday or a Wild Card Saturday. Everyone picks once, and choosing 2 or 3 sets of numbers gives each game its own random rows and columns.

Best when you want one link to share, one pot, and one set of picks to manage.

A grid for every round

Follow the bracket with a fresh board each weekend: Wild Card, Divisional, Championship Sunday, and the Super Bowl. Each has its own matchup, picks, and payouts, so people can join the games they'll watch.

Best for bars and offices running pools all January. Orders of four or more grids qualify for a volume discount.

Whichever you choose, you handle collecting payments and paying winners; the site helps you organize the pool.

Four weekends of fundraising before the Super Bowl

Every booster club and charity runs a Super Bowl board. Far fewer run one for the playoffs, even though the games draw the same crowds and the same appetite for a square. A board each weekend in January gives your supporters four chances to play, four rounds of winners to announce, and four weeks of talking about your cause before the big game even arrives.

Example: $10 squares, one board per round

  • Four 100-square grids: $4,000 collected
  • Your cause keeps half: $2,000
  • Prizes: the other $2,000, split across the four quarters of each game

Players who win in the Wild Card round tend to buy in again the next weekend.

Set your square price and payout split before you open the board, and put both in the rules so everyone sees them. Our squares fundraiser guide walks through pricing, splits, and selling out the board step by step.

Start your NFL playoff pool

Create your board and have it ready to share before kickoff.

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